Monday, Nov. 10, 2008 | 9:48 p.m.
I took my sketchpad to the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday. Here are a few observations I penned while watching the race.
Bad Boy Mowers is the sponsor of the No. 22 car, but it was the No. 48 car that mowed down the field at Phoenix International Raceway. For Carl Edwards to win the championship, Jimmie Johnson would not only have to suffer a terrible race next week at Homestead, but Edwards would also have to end up in victory lane.
I heard several people talking about the dour mood in the garage regarding the financial state of our country and what the future may hold for the race teams.
After the end of a caution period around lap 36, the cars were coming to speed when they came upon a few safety vehicles in turn two that hadn’t completely exited the track. I’ve never seen that happen at a race before.
The most bizarre wreck of the race, which Juan Pablo Montoya started, resulted in David Gilliland’s car on top of the hood of Scott Speed’s machine. You’ve got to give credit to Gilliland for trying to drive his car off of Speed’s hood. But I’m sure Speed, who’s known for painting his toenails, wasn’t too happy to have Gilliland’s rear tires spinning on his windshield.
It was great, for a change, to see so few empty seats at a Sprint Cup event.
…
Prior to the race, I had the opportunity to spend some time touring ESPN's facilities at the track. One of the locations I visited was Tim Brewer's Tech Center. I'll post a blog later this week about what I learned from my friends at ESPN.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy